The Blue Castle

I picked THE BLUE CASTLE up on a whim, a whim built on an age of meaning to read this book and I have to say it’s the best £0.49 I’ve ever spent. It was quite an unusual start to the story with the sad existence that Valancy occupied in her family household. Valancy was surrounded by bullies and she had no worth or value, it was infuriating to read.From there, life changed for Valancy in the strangest ways; I loved the reins that she took over her own life. The impetus for that change was a little cruel but the result was such a freeing read. I relished Valancy finding her voice, her snark and her don’t-care attitude. She was a kind and generous soul; it was also rather revealing seeing someone in this era with such low self esteem, maybe this isn’t such a contemporary problem, more one across the decades.The idea of the blue castle as a place, the dust pile and the books of John Foster were elements that engaged me throughout this read. I knew there was something in this writer that would develop and even though I suspected the truth, it didn’t quell the enjoyment any. Valancy’s life on the little island filled me with such joy, I adored seeing her reach her potential as a person and as a woman.This was a quirky story but one to thoroughly warm your heart. It’s been a while since I’ve read Lucy Maud Montgomery but this experience reminds me why I have loved her books all my life and I’m going to check which other treasures I’ve never read.

There are some lovely descriptions of nature in this book, the gentle romance between the heroine and her unconventional husband is charming and her interaction with Abel and his daughter Cissy is heart warming.So why only 2 stars? The bile and negativity that takes up most of the book and I mean most. The author spends 90% of the book focusing on Valancy's family the Stirlings. If she is not detailing Valancy's life while living with them then she is having Valancy's dissect it inwardly when she leaves them or even revisiting the house after Valancy's has left to once again focus on the gossipy, self centered and largely hypocritical Stirlings.They are an awful family but they are less responsible for Valancy's misery than the cowardice she admits she allowed to cripple her. Honestly I don't want to spend so much of my time reading about silly people! A blog I stumbled upon said that The Blue Castle has, a lot to say about the beauty of nature and that the romance is touching.It has a little to say about nature and even less to say about the romance between Valancy and Barney because way too much of the book focuses on the toxic Stirlings and its just a tad weird. It's as if the author had an axe to grinds. Did the Stirlings represent everybody in her life she hated or something?I suspect that if L. M. Montgomery was not already a well established author her editor would have sent the story back with a few suggestions about less boring Stirlings and more heart stirrings and nature please!It could be a good book. It has the makings in fact of a great one, but an imbalance if focus make it one I struggled to finish

I've been a fan of L.M. Montgomery ever since I read the Anne of Green Gable series as a girl, and very much enjoyed re-acquainting myself with her works with this book. This is the story of Valancy Stirling, twenty-nine years old and resigned to her life as an old maid; she lives a dull existence with her mother and cousin. That is until the day she receives the news she is suffering from a life-threatening heart condition and has only a year to live. Determined to live before she dies, Valancy casts aside all her fears, finally voicing all the thoughts and opinions she has held inside her for so long, and leaving home in search of her Blue Castle.I found this an utterly charming and heart-warming old-fashioned tale, with a lovely blend of humour and romance. Valancy was a sympathetic central character, and one that I was rooting for; and it was wonderful to watch her spread her wings and finally blossom. It took a little while to get into the story, the first chapters perhaps rather dwelling on the awful Stirling clan, however, at the same time this allowed for the contrast that was later Valancy's life. I loved these later chapters; Montgomery's descriptions of Lake Mistawasis through the seasons were so beautifully depicted and lyrical, and the gentle romance between Valancy and Barney made for a delightful read, with that heart-melting declaration at the end.Perfect for a rainy day!

Maud Montgomery never wrote anything to match her delightful debut novel, "Anne of Green Gables", but of the others I've read this and "Jane of Lantern Hill" are by far the next best. The story of "The Blue Castle" is original and quite adult (illegitimate babies, for heaven's sakes!) and characters reasonably three-dimensional.The heroine's revolt against her oppressive family and upbringing is told with spiky, at times savagely comic, depictions of the ghastly, small-town provincial relatives, contrasting nicely with the idyllic time she spends on a forest island with the community's "bad boy". (Incidentally, he reminds me rather of Grey Owl - I wonder if Maud had him in mind when she created Barney?)At times I found her nature descriptions over-written, and both her heroine and hero prone to excessive self-pity, but I devoured the whole book in one sitting, which is very rare for me.My one serious beef is that the ending is too "fairy tale" in feel, and that the way the protagonists end up seems almost a betrayal of the values they've stood up for.This Bantam edition is what you'd expect - the type's quite small and there are one or two pages where letters are missing. It really needs re-setting. Furthermore the cover artwork is awful. Neither character resembles their description in the book - it could be the cover of any romantic novel!Having said that, without Bantam, most of Maude's lesser-known works would have been unavailable for decades.